Filipino Tradition in New Year's Celebration

If you are residing in the Philippines like me, then probably we have something in common in celebration of New Year's eve . Our F...

If you are residing in the Philippines like me, then probably we have something in common in celebration of New Year's eve. Our Filipino Tradition in welcoming the new year is quite popular around the globe. That's why I take pride because indeed "It's more fun in the Philippines!"

As a practical mom, I don't encourage my family to purchase any kind of fire crackers. Recalling my childhood, I grew up with fire crackers by the street lit up by my brothers and my cousins. While me and my younger brother would each hold "luses" and "watusi." But being aware of the dangers it could cause, now that I'm an adult, a mom especially, I don't want my kids to grow up lighting up any kind of fire crackers.

Instead, our family choose to do Filipino tradition in celebrating New Year's eve. Here are some of what we did to welcome 2013:

Polka-Dots Clothes - wearing anything dotted connotes coins or money which brings luck to the one wearing it

Coin Shower/ Putting Coins in Pockets - If you have coins in your pockets, you will never run out of money throughout the year. If you shower coins inside the house for the little children to pick up, money will never stop flowing inside your home throughout the year.

Jumping at exactly 12 midnight - When little kids jump up and down, it should be as high as they could, at midnight, they will grow taller faster.

Round Fruits - 12 or 8 round fruits as the table's centerpiece still means prosperity and money for the family.

Making Noise - This is the part where some use fire crackers. To be safe, we used horns or in Filipino "torotot" to make so much noise. Some play really loud party music to welcome the new year with positivity, glee and liveliness. Making noise they say also drives away the bad spirits so only positive energies will come your way.

Media Noche - Media means "middle" while Noche means "night." Media Noche is a feast and a gathering of the whole family to welcome the new year in the middle of the night. Special dishes are served on the table to symbolize good living and prosperity that is wished for the whole year.

Serve "Malagkit" or Sticky Food - In connection to Media Noche, sticky foods should also be served. Eating sticky food such as Leche Flan, Halaya, Arroz Caldo or Congee, or Biko (Rice Cake) symbolizes a family that will stick together come what may.

Filipino customs or traditions, but for some superstitions or fictitious ways, in celebrating the new year's eve is what make the family look forward to something exciting every end of the year. The children wait for midnight to watch these traditions happen before their very eyes. Even the youngest partakes in making it a joyous event. These traditions are what I want my children to grow up with and pass on to their own as well. Whether the round symbols mentioned above are true or not, there's no harm in keeping the traditions alive in all of our hearts. As long as the whole family is up for it and is together in celebrating this event, we would do it every year.

What's important is, every new year is a new beginning, a fresh start, a signal of change and hope to be better for everyone. Happy 2013!

Wow, we have also done that. I wear my red dress with polka dots. Daddy also cooked biko, we had media noche with 13 round fruits on the table. I also kalog the alkansya of my son and it poured all over our house, haha... It is really fun celebrating New Year in the Philippines!

The last photo is ube right? Sarap! If given the chance I will really choice to go home in Pinas on December. Christmas and New Year. The best ang Pinoy food. And I want my husband to experience a different kind of New Year.

No firecrackers for us, too! This year I just wanted to celebrate it with family, but took no extra effort for the fruits,the polka dots, the coins! My sister-in-law chose the type of food for the night... we had shabu-shabu and barbecue! Really great hot soup since we were in the mountains and the breeze was cold!

Not being mean here and please don't get me wrong, but I don't believe that these practices will give us luck or something good in return. But not necessarily that I don't do these. It is for fun I think would be one of my reasons why I also do these. But to me, I consider celebrating NYE with media noche etc. as thanksgiving and nothing else.

Cheers and God bless!

Love all the pix though. Happy family, good food and all. Such a blessing!

Hi Filman, no offense taken. As mentioned in my last paragraph, it's not that I rely my fate or luck on these traditions. These are Filipino customs that I grew up with and now passing on to my children. It's fun to do them every year but I believe that without prayer and work, we will not succeed in life. Happy new year! :)

Over the years, the only tradition we maintained is the media noche. This year, we even broke that lol! Ah but that's because my youngest nephew was hospitalized and got discharged on the afternoon of the 31st...no more time to buy stuff so we ended up having media noche on Jan 1st hehehe...what's really important is the family itself...that we're together no matter what. :-)

I don't really believe in luck or in lucky charms, but we bought round fruits, wore polka dots, and placed money in our pockets. Not because we believe they would bring luck, but because the traditions are great bonding activities!

Hello, I'm Louise

Welcome to my blog! I write about my practical life as a mother of three talented and handsome boys, as an ex-single mom and now a happily married woman to my long-time best friend and soulmate, as a former corporate marketing specialist, and as a life adventurer! Welcome to Mommy Practicality!

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